Welcome to my May 2020 financial progress!

If you are new here, every month, I post the progress I’ve made on paying off my student loans and on my savings. I’ve done this since I first started paying down my loans in July 2017 and it has been so worth it.

I do this to hold myself accountable and to share my progress with others who are also facing debt payments of their own.

Debt paid this month: $880.77

Debt remaining: $51,945.52

I house every month’s debt progress from the very beginning here if you want to check out the progress so far.

Updates for This Month

Despite everything that has been going on this month, May turned out to be a good month in terms of maxing out my financial plans. My goals for 2020 were to max out my 401k, Roth IRA, HSA, and contribute up to my company stock match. I accomplished 3 of the 4 goals this month. I’ve finished maxing out my Roth IRA, HSA, and company stock match. 

I can’t see into the future and obviously don’t know how the market will be like the remainder of the year. But I have seen great rebounds that I would never have experienced had I stopped contributing in March when the market took a nosedive so I’m glad I kept going.

For the past 2 years, I’ve always maxed my Roth IRA, HSA, and company stock match by mid-year and it has done me well, so I figured this year, despite everything that’s been going on, I would keep up this consistency. 

With the extra money that will be coming straight to my take-home pay since finishing my Roth IRA, HSA, and company stock match, I plan to save up rather than make additional payments to my student loans. As I outlined last month, for the time being, I will continue only with my $880.77 minimum payment to my private loan.

My main goal this year is to increase my savings as I plan to purchase my own home in the near future. 

May Budget

Fixed Spending

Nothing much here, just the usual expenses. I live at home but pay rent to my parents and am also paying back my personal loan to them at $500/month.

Other than that, my cell phone bill and Netflix make up the rest of my fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Gas – Went nowhere but work and home which leads me to my lowest gas spending in… EVER! And add to that, my third month being under budget this year and my lowest spending ever this year. 

Compare that to last year when i was under budget only 2 months in total! COVID may be ruining my social life but my wallet sure is thanking it.

Entertainment/dining out – No entertainment spending. In fact I got money back from a refund of a concert I cancelled.

I’m still very much still self-quarantining. I did a couple of take outs this month but mostly ate at home so minimal dining out spending.

Groceries – Under budget thanks to my revised budget. It did go down from last month, probably because I did more takeouts this month.

Miscellaneous

Donation – donated to help with expenses for a death in a friend’s family due to COVID-19.

Savings

I continued my automatic contribution of $500 per paycheck to my savings account and $500 per paycheck to my Roth IRA for a total of $2,000 to savings.

Goals for Next Month

Last month I was debating whether to get a new credit card as my current 0% APR introductory rate was expiring at the end of June. I decided that I will get a new card and have narrowed down the card I will be applying for. That update will be in June when I apply for it.

I currently have a $3,000 balance on my credit card so the money from my increased take-home pay next month will likely go straight to paying that off.